Robert Bauer to become Senior Fellow and Adjunct Professor

photo of Robert BauerRobert Bauer, who is leaving his position as White House Counsel at the end of June, will become a Senior Fellow and Adjunct Professor of Law at NYU School of Law in the fall, teaching a seminar on Law and the Electoral Process.

Upon leaving the White House, Bauer will be returning to the law firm of Perkins Coie, where he had been a long-time partner before joining the Obama Administration. He will serve as general counsel to President Obama’s reelection campaign, general counsel to the Democratic National Committee, and personal lawyer to President Obama.

“Bob’s going to be a very busy person,” said NYU School of Law Dean Richard Revesz. “But that’s what makes his affiliation with the Law School so exciting. Even as he teaches here, all of us at the Law School will benefit from a perspective developed over many years in the worlds of government and politics.” Bauer will also add to NYU Law’s formidable expertise in a discipline launched at the school: the Law of Democracy. The Washington Post has noted that Bauer “is one of the nation’s pre-eminent experts on election and campaign finance law,” a field in which he taught and wrote prior to joining the senior White House staff. At NYU Law, he will join a number of the leading academics in the area, including Professors Samuel Issacharoff, Burt Neuborne, and Richard Pildes. Revesz said, “We are so delighted that Bob will be joining our community and participating in the intellectual life of the School.”

Bauer graduated from Harvard University and received his law degree from the University of Virginia. He has served as an advisor to President Obama since Obama became a U.S. senator in 2005, and he was named White House Counsel in November 2009.

Bauer’s appointment continues Revesz’s expansion of opportunities for top former federal officials to bring their experience to the Law School. For example, another former White House Counsel, C. Boyden Gray, will also be teaching at NYU Law in the 2011-12 academic year, as will Neil Barofsky '95, who recently stepped down as Special Inspector General of the U.S. Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Posted June 8, 2011